A Little Islamic Dictionary

Abu-Hanifa Al-Numan -- أبو حنيفة النعمان

One of the four Muslim Scholars. You can find more information about him in Wikipedia. The Islamic school founded by Abu-Hanifa is called the "Hanafi school". Followers of this school are called "Hanafeya".

Ahmad Ibn Hanbal -- أحمد بن حنبل

One of the four Muslim Scholars. You can find more information about him in Wikipedia. The Islamic school founded by Ibn Hanbal is called the "Hanbali school". Because Ahmad Ibn Hanbal is a very famous Imam in Islam, he is sometimes referred to as "Al-Imam Ahmad", although Ahmad is a very common name amongst Muslims and is not distinguishing in any way. Followers of this school are called "Hanabela".

Al-Jarh Wal-Ta'adil -- الجرح و التعديل

This is an Islamic branch of knowledge that studies the various rowah to determine their altruism regarding quoting Hadith from Mohammad. The approximate English interpretation of this is 'Defamation and accreditation'. When good qualities are attributed to a rawi by one (and some require two) person(s) this is considered in his favor and increases the credibility of this rawi (accreditation). When bad qualities are attributed in the same manner, this decreases the credibility of the rawi (defamation). Quotes are first filtered according to the following rules:

• They are accepted from a person who had repented his sins. However, they are not accepted from that who had been a liar, even if he repented.
• They are not accepted from that who was known to not be fully attentive; e.g. that who may nod or fall asleep during hearing Hadith.
• They are not accepted from that who listened to others and repeated what he heard without knowing its origin.
• They are not accepted from that who was known to be forgetful.

The qualities of defamation or accreditation are arranged as follows (in a descending order) according to how they were worded or phrased:

1. When a quality comes in the superlative form; e.g. the most trustworthy person.
2. When more than one good quality were attributed to the person; e.g. trustworthy and consistent.
3. When one good quality was attributed; e.g. he was a reference.
4. When one less impressive good quality was attributed; e.g. he was honest.
5. When there was no mention of a good or a bad quality; e.g. people quoted from him.
6. When the qualities sound more bad than good; e.g. people accepted his quotes.
7. When the qualities indicate a soft attitude toward quoting the exact words.
8. When there was a doubt in the authenticity of the quotes; e.g. when early scholars didn't use this Hadith as an argument.
9. When there was a frank mention that a person does not quote authentic Hadith.
10. When someone was accused of lying.
11. When someone was described as being a liar in the superlative form.

The first three ranks are taken as quoting authentic Hadith; some of them are considered more authentic than others. The following two ranks are taken into consideration, but their quoted Hadith is not used as an argument before being thoroughly tested. The following three ranks are taken into consideration but their quotes are not used as an argument. The quoted Hadith from the last three ranks are not even taken into consideration.

Al-Maghazi -- المغازي

A book that documents the Sira, written by Al-Waqidi.

Al-Wala'a Wal-Bara'a, Belief of -- عقيدة الولاء و البراء

This is one of the principal beliefs in Islam, and it translates into 'loyalty and renouncement'. It basically states that all Muslims must be loyal to God, His prophet (Muhammad) and believers (all Muslims) and that they must renounce everything that disagrees with God and His prophet, or follows any path other than that of the believers.
This principle does not prevent Muslims from treating non-Muslims in a fair way or giving them charity. It does not invite Muslims to be unjust to non-Muslims or reject them from Islamic societies. It does not prevent Muslims from trading with non-Muslims (except selling weapons to them that they may use to fight Islam), or exchanging gifts.
However, it prevents Muslims from liking non-Muslims, befriending them, or making them close associates. It also prevents Muslims from standing on the side of non-Muslims against Muslims. It prohibits the submission of Muslims to non-Muslims in any way; so non-Muslims, whenever possible, should never be the bosses or the superiors of Muslims in any mundane activity. Needless to say, non-Muslims are not allowed to rule Muslim countries.

Al-Shafi'i -- الشافعي

One of the four Muslim Scholars. You can find more information about him in Wikipedia. The Islamic school founded by Al-Shafi'i is called the "Shafi'i school". Followers of this school are called "Shafi'iya".

Al-Sira Al-Nabaweya -- السيرة النبوية

See Sira.

Al-Tabaqat -- الطبقات

A book that documents the Sira, written by Ibn Sa'd al-Baghdadi.

Guezia -- جزية

See Jizya.

Hadith (plural Ahadith) -- حديث (أحاديث)

An Arabic word that means a 'saying' or a 'speech'. The term is used in Islam to refer to the collective sayings of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam; e.g. One of the main sources of Islamic legislation is Hadith. It is also used to refer to one of these sayings; e.g. I read a Hadith that had this idea.
Hadith was collected by some early Muslim scholars into several books (one for each of them) after they investigated the authenticity of these quotes, and these books serve as the reference to Muslims regarding Hadith till the modern day. There are nine major books that Muslims refer to on the topic of Hadith: Sahih Al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sonan Al-Termethei, Sonan Al-Nasa'i, Sonan Abi-Dao'od, Sonan Ibn Maja, Mosnad Ahmad, Muataa Malik, and Sonan Al-Darami. Most of these books have not been translated fully or correctly (or both) to other languages at the time of writing of this definition.

Hanabela -- حنابلة

See Ahmad Ibn Hanbal.

Hanafeya -- حنفية

See Abu-Hanifa Al-Numan

Hanafi school -- المذهب الحنفي

See Abu-Hanifa Al-Numan.

Hanbali school -- المذهب الحنبلي

See Ahmad Ibn Hanbal.

Ibn Hanbal -- ابن حنبل

See Ahmad Ibn Hanbal.

Ijma'a -- إجماع

See the Four Muslim Scholars.

Imam (plural A'Imma) -- إمام (أئمة)

A Muslim scholar that takes a leading role in the religion and the state. Sometimes it is also used to describe a Muslim leader of the state (or a Caliph) regardless of his religious knowledge.

Jizya -- جزية

Some form of a head tax. The word was used in Quran to indicate a head tax that Muslims should take from Koffar after they bring them into submission. The general meaning of the word is not restricted to this kind of head tax in particular, but the historical use of the word in this context gave it a repelling meaning to non-Muslims. Some modern Muslim scholars came to the conclusion that Jizya is not suitable for modern day state systems, where citizenship is one of the basic principles on which the state is established. However, a good number of modern day Muslim scholars still believe that non-Muslims should pay Jizya in countries with Muslim majority.
Jizya was taken originally as a 'fee for protection', where Muslims would protect non-Muslims in the land invaded by Muslim armies, and inhabitants of this land who are not Muslims are not allowed to join the Muslim armies. The exact amount of Jizya is not determined, and historically it had gone up and down according to the need of the Muslim state for money to equip the army. This tax is not taken from women, underage children, or old people.

Kafir (plural Koffar or Kafara) -- كافر (كفار، كفرة)

An Arabic workd meaning 'infidel', used in Quran to refer to those who do not beleive in Islam. The origin of the word in Arabic means 'cover' or 'hide', and it looks like it was used by early Muslims to refer to those who want to 'hide' God from others. Islam has a rather negative and sometimes aggressive and hostile attitude to Koffar. There are verses in Islam which promote fighting Koffar until they submit or convert into Islam.

Malekeya -- مالكية

See Malik Ibn Anas.

Malik Ibn Anas -- مالك بن أنس

One of the four Muslim Scholars. You can find more information about him in Wikipedia. The Islamic school founded by Malik Ibn Anas is called the "Malki school". Followers of this school are called "Malekeya".

Malki school -- المذهب المالكي

See Malik Ibn Anas.

Mosnad Ahmad -- مسند أحمد

One of the nine books of Hadith in Islam, written by Ahmad Ibn Hanbal.

Muataa Malik -- موطأ مالك

One of the nine books of Hadith in Islam, written by Malik Ibn Anas.

Mus-Haf -- مصحف

An Arabic word that means 'book' (literally: that which collects writings). The word has long been used to indicate the book of Quran, and is hardly ever used nowadays to indicate anything else. The difference between Mus-Haf and Quran is like the difference between 'Bible' and the 'Word of God'. Mus-Haf refers to the book that contains Quran.
Quran was not initially gathered in one book like it is now, but was memorized by early Muslims and written individually on pieces of leather, wood and stone. There seem to have been various versions of Quran at the early ages of Islam, but the third Caliph (Othman Ibn Affan) collected certain verses of Quran into one book and ordered the destruction of anything else other than his version. There is some historical evidence that there was more than one version of Mus-Haf in the early years of Islam.

Muslim Scholars, The four -- أئمة الإسلام الأربعة

There are four major scholars in the first couple of centuries of the Islamic history that are known for their vast religious knowledge; each of them interpreted parts of the religion a bit differently than the other. Each of them had his own followers, resulting in four major schools in Islam, sharing all the general principles and basic faith of Islam and varying in certain rulings in the Sharia. They are Abu-Hanifa, Malik, Al-Shafi'i, and Ibn Hanbal.
When the four Scholars have agreed on a certain ruling, this is called 'Ijma'a', which means unanimity. Unanimity has a very high rank in Islamic rulings, and indicates that the particular concept was understood in the same way by all early scholars. Breeching Islamic unanimity is rejected by almost all modern Muslim scholars, and some allow it under the sole circumstances of the existence of a new unanimity amongst the modern scholars.

Nassara -- نصارى

The Islamic term used to describe Christians. It is most probably derived from the city 'Nazareth' and the word 'Nazarenes' used in the Bible to describe Christians in the early years of Christianity, for they were followers of Jesus the Nazarene. The word derives from an Arabic root that means 'victory' or 'make victorious', and there is a verse in Quran saying that the Disciples stood by Jesus and made him victorious over non-believers. Some Muslims believe that the word Nassara is derived from that verse of Quran, but the majority are in agreement with the first opinion.

Quran -- قرآن

The holy book of Islam. According to the Islamic faith, Quran was inspired to Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, by God through the angel Gabriel. It was written in Arabic and is considered by Muslims to be the miracle of Islam. Until very recently, it was not available in any other language but Arabic. Many translations emerged more recently in various languages.
According to Islam, Quran was inspired to Muhammad not all at once, but on stages; pieces of Quran were given to him as the need arose for them. The temporal order in which Quran was recevied by Muhammad is not the same order in which Quran is ararnged these days in the Mus-Haf. Quran is divided into various Suras, which are more like chapters in the Bible. Some of these Suras were received in Mecca where Muhammad originally lived, and some others were received in Medina, a nearby city to which he immigrated later in his life.

Rawi (plural Rwah or Rwat) -- راوي (رواة)

A person who is known in Islamic history for telling Hadith (a Hadith teller). The rawi has to have two main characteristics:

• Justness: To be an adult, sane Muslim, devoid of causes of sin, not lacking manliness or humaneness.
• Correctness: A Hadith teller is considered a rawi when he is in agreement with other respectable and reputed rowah in the majority of what he quotes.

Sahih Al-Bukhari -- صحيح البخاري

One of the nine books of Hadith in Islam, written by Muhammad Al-Bukhari.

Sahih Muslim -- صحيح مسلم

One of the nine books of Hadith in Islam, written by Muslim Ibn Al-Hajjaj Nissapuri.

Shafii school -- المذهب الشافعي

See Al-Shafi'i.

Shafi'iya -- شافعية

See Al-Shafi'i.

Sharia -- شريعة

The collective religious Islamic legislation derived from Quran and Hadith. It has rulings about not only the religious issues in Islam, but also running the Islamic state in general and the stance of Muslims towards non-Muslims on their land and in other countries. Civil affairs, charity, taxes, the judiciary system, criminal penalties, military issues, the state regime, and even basic stuff like table manners and 'bathroom' manners can be found in Sharia.
The intents of Sharia (مقاصد التشريع) are those principles in Sharia that are not related to a particular ruling in it, but rather to the overall goals and philosophy of the Sharia. These intents are categorized in several ways.
According to the need for the intents:

• Mandatory intents: Preservation of 1) religion; 2) psyche; 3) mind; 4) progeny [including knowing the biological parents]; and 5) money.
• Needed intents: Those required for alleviating suffering, embarrassment or annoyances of the Muslim.
• Enhancing intents: Those that relate to good habits and moralities. Dropping those intents wouldn't result in

General versus special intents:

• General intents: These are observed in most rulings of Sharia, and are related to its overall philosophy.
• Special intents: These are related to particular fields; e.g.:
  • Family
  • Financial affairs
  • Work and body-related issues
  • Judiciary system and testimony
  • Charity
  • Criminal penalties
• Partial intents: Those related to the reasons of particular rulings and their philosophies.

The rulings of the Sharia are categorized according to their authenticity and their meaning as follows:

• Absolutely authentic rulings are those derived from text that was handed over down the generations from one to the next, making it almost impossible to change the text due to its widespread knowledge. These include verses of the Quran and those pieces of Hadith that were quoted by many and corroborated by various Rawis, and can be traced back to eyewitnesses.
• Probably authentic rulings are those derived from pieces of Hadith that could not be strongly corroborated or traced back to eyewitnesses, but are still quoted by trustworthy Rawis.
• Rulings with absolute meaning are those which cannot be interpreted in more than one way from a linguistic point of view. The meaning of the text is very clearly understood for these rulings. Not many rulings are like this in Sharia.
Rulings with probable meaning are those which can be interpreted in more than one way. Early Muslim Scholars may have disagreed slightly on the interpretation of those rulings. The majority of Sharia rulings fall under this category.

The "principles of Sharia" is a phrase that was mentioned in the second article of the 1971 Egyptian constitution, and it was interpreted early on as the general overall intents of Sharia, but was later defined by the Egyptian Supreme Constitutional Court in one of its rulings on May 18, 1996 as the 'absolutely authentic rulings with absolute meaning' in the Sharia, restricting the use of this phrase to a small number of the total rulings of Sharia.

Shura -- شورى

The Islamic concept of democracy. It literally means 'counseling', and is based on the concept that the Caliph is supposed to listen to his counselors before making important decisions regarding the nation. Those counselors are not elected by the people, but rather chosen by the Caliph according to their trustworthiness and knowledge. Some Muslim scholars believe that the Caliph must follow the majority of counselors' opinions. However, most Muslim scholars make this optional; so the Caliph may take the advice of the counselors or reject it totally on his own discretion. Examples in Islamic history support the second understanding of Shura. Some of the early Caliphs followed the opinion of the very minority of the counselors because it agreed with theirs.

Sira -- سيرة

The biography of Muhammad, the prohphet of Islam, as documented by early Muslim scholars. Several books document this biography; the most important of them are Sirat Ibn Hisham, Zad Al-Muad, Sirat Ibn Iss-Haq, Sirat Ibn Kathir, Al-Maghazi, and Al-Tabaqat.

Sirat Ibn Hisham -- سيرة ابن هشام

A book that documents the Sira, written by Abdul-Malik Ibn Hisham.

Sirat Ibn Iss-Haq -- سيرة ابن إسحاق

A book that documents the Sira, written by Muhammad Ibn Iss-Haq.

Sirat Ibn Kathir -- سيرة ابن كثير

A book that documents the Sira, written by Ismail ibn Kathir.

Sonan Abi-Dao'od -- سنن أبي داود

One of the nine books of Hadith in Islam, written by Abi Dao'od.

Sonan Al-Darami -- سنن الدارمي

One of the nine books of Hadith in Islam, written by Abdullah Ibn Abdul-Rahman Al-Darami.

Sonan Al-Nasa'i -- سنن النسائي

One of the nine books of Hadith in Islam, written by Al-Nasa'i.

Sonan Al-Termethei -- سنن الترمذي

One of the nine books of Hadith in Islam, written by Al-Termethei.

Sonan Ibn Maja -- سنن ابن ماجة

One of the nine books of Hadith in Islam, written by Ibn Maja.

Sonna -- سنة

Sonna is used to represent the collective traditions taken from Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. These traditions may relate to some trivial aspects in appearnace and behaviour; e.g. letting a beard grow and shaving the moustache, or saying certain things before stepping into the bathroom. Everything Muhammad did in his life is considered Sonna and is reverred by Muslims. Many Muslims prefer to imitate whatever Muhammad did, and this is called "following the Sonna". Sonna is not collected in a book in itself, but is rather derived from the various books of Hadith and a number of books that document the biography (Sira) of Muhammad. The most famous of these books is Sirat Ibn Hisham. None of these books has been translated to other languages (to the best of my knowledge) at the time of writing of this definition.

Sura -- سورة

See Quran

Zad Al-Muad -- زاد المعاد

A book that documents the Sira, written by Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya.

Zhemmi (plural Zhemmyoun; feminine Zhemmya; pl. fem. Zhemmyat) -- ذمي (ذميون، ذمية، ذميات)

A Christian or a Jew. In Quran, Christians and Jew--although still called Koffar--are given a somewhat better status than the rest of non-Muslims, because according to Islamic faith Christians and Jews are believers in 'heavenly' religions.